A councillor has slammed Southampton City Council for ‘leaving residents in the dark’ by abandoning its X account with 50,000 followers for an alternative platform with less than 100 subscribers.

The council departed X, formerly known as Twitter, in February to focus on other platforms, including Bluesky

The council said this is due to "recent changes" on X, which have made it "harder to engage with local people about local issues."

The authority said that despite having 54,000 followers on X, the platform accounted for less than 10 per cent of its social media reach.

However, Conservative councillor Jeremy Moulton has now criticised the decision.

He said: "It's the job of the council to ensure it communicates effectively with residents.

"Going from a platform where they have 54,000 followers to one where they have 78, means that people aren't going to get the information as effectively.

"Typically, the council would reach a couple of thousand people via X when it updated on things like road closures or accidents.

"They will be reaching next to no one on Bluesky.

"The real reason for the change is that the council leader doesn't like Elon Musk and his promotion of messages on the Labour government stance on child grooming gangs."

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Travel updates are now being issued by the council on the Bluesky platform and said it will be using other platforms such as Threads and TikTok.

The council has said that it will now focus its efforts on Facebook and Instagram, which it said makes up more than 75 per cent of its social media reach.

Council leader Councillor Lorna Fielker, said: "Recent changes to X have made it harder to engage with local people about local issues.

"The lack of challenge on X to abuse and misinformation has also altered its tone, which does not align with our values.

"Despite having 54,000 followers on X, many of these accounts are dormant.

"X accounted for less than 10 per cent of our social media reach, while Facebook and Instagram make up over 75 per cent.

"Therefore, we’ll be focusing our efforts on these two platforms, alongside exploring new channels – including Bluesky, Threads, and TikTok – to review how we can connect with local communities in new and exciting ways."